MCQ from Moodle

The idea that a person’s mental activity is no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules summarises:

The Astonishing Hypothesis

Behaviourism rejects the idea of:

Cognitive representations

The neuron doctrine is the idea that:

The brain is composed of many small units

Which of the follow will NOT effect the subjective experience of a patch of colour?

Visual acuity

A visual after-image is an example of:

A bottom-up illusion

Pareidolia is:

A form of top-down illusion

When playing the slot machine at a casino, you think you are more ikely to win if you press the button than if the computer presses it for you.  This is an example of:

illusion of control

In saying "Preferences need no inferences", Zajonc (1980) was referring to which psychological effect?

Mere exposure

When a computer crashes during an experiment, participants displayed more aggression when they were subliminally presented with faces from a social group they associate with violence. This is an example of:

behavioural priming

Someone knocks on your door. They smile at you and compliment the sweater you are wearing. Then they ask you to donate to a children's hospital. Whatheuristic of persuasion are you using?

Friendship

You want to be healthy, but you don't exercise regularly or eat a nutritious diet. This is an example of:

cognitive dissonance

What is the scarcity heuristic in decision-making?

It is a mental shortcut that prioritizes choices when resources are perceived as limited.

When a person reports information that was not among a set of original material, it is an example of

list intrusion

Which of the following best illustrates a deep level of processing in memory?

Analyzing the meaning of a complex poem and its emotional impact.

What is the primary function of statistical learning in memory processes?

Helping individuals recognize patterns and regularities in their environment.

In human eyes, cone cells can have different peak responses. Which of the following is FALSE?

FALSE no people have 4 different peak responses

TRUE most people have three different peak responses

some animals have 4 different peak responses
some people have 2 different peak responses

Boroditsky et al (2010) showed Indonesian and US partipcants pictures of different people about to kick a ball, kicking a ball, and after kicking a ball. She asked participants to put similar pictures in the same pile. US participants put the pictures togeher if they showed the same moment in time. Which of the following is NOT true of the Indonesian participants:

FALSE They could not discriminate between the pictures

TRUE

Their language lacks a marking for time in verb endings

d.

They put pictures of the same people together

They sorted the same way as US participants if they were tested in English

People from the north of an island do not have a word for green though people from the south do. Evidence suggests that if people in the north and south looked at the same green colour chip:

they might differ in how fast they can match it to one of a pair of other greenish chips

The Rorschach ink blot test:

is a theory-driven measure

If IQ has a high heritability, this means that:

within that particular environment, differences between people are likely due to their genes 

A researcher administers an intelligence test to 1000 people, and asks them to rate 100 different pieces of music. Using factor analysis she:

can find out if preferences for certain types of music predict higher intelligence

The night before a job interview, Annette stays up all night trying to finish a video game. Self-handicapping suggests that her reason for this is to:

do worse on the interview with an explanation for her failure

The misattribution of arousal supports which theory of emotion:

Two-factor theory

People are poor at affective forecasting because they

have a focalism bias

You turn the paper over for an exam, and realise that none of the topics you studied have come up. The James-Lange theory of emotion states that:

your heart will race, and that will make you feel anxious

Focalism is one reason that people are poor at:

predicting how long they will feel a certain emotion

20 participants take part in a four week trial of a 'brain training' app. They spend 10 mins on the app each day, and each week, they take a laboratory test of mental speed and concentration. The results show that, on average, the participants show a 10% improvement in test scores by the end of the trial. The researchers conclude that the app is beneficial to mental performance. What's the biggest weakness of this claim?

There is no control condition

‘Common sense’:

Contains many contradictory assertions

Cohen, Nisbett, Bowdle and Schwarz (1996) found that compared to those from the North of the US, when they were insulted, White Southern males with a 'culture of honour':

Had increased cortisol levels